NFA soccer star Bramall has new pal: MLS' Adu

Like so many other kids who go away to summer camp, Alex Bramall made a new friend.

Justin Rodriguez

Like so many other kids who go away to summer camp, Alex Bramall made a new friend.

Bramall's pal just happens to be pretty famous: Major League Soccer whiz-kid Freddy Adu.

"At first, it was weird," said Bramall yesterday, after returning from a training camp with the U.S. under-15 boys' national team in Zarephath, N.J. "It was pretty crazy to meet one of my heroes, but Freddy was an everyday person. He was cool."

Bramall and Adu's new friendship is one of coincidence. Adu, training with the U.S. U-20 team in Zarephath, stayed in the same hotel as Bramall, in a nearby room. Adu enjoys playing FIFA World Cup on PlayStation 2 and the Real Salt Lake midfielder invited Bramall, entering his sophomore year at Newburgh Free Academy, in for a game. They hit it off and Bramall, also a midfielder, hung out for most of the week with Adu, Red Bull phenom forward Josmer Altidore, and Adu's roommate.

Bramall said Adu, 18, told him two things that will always stick with him:

God gave you this talent, use it how you like. It's the same advice Pele once gave Adu.

Second was never turn down an autograph request. Always smile and be respectful to the fans.

"I think it was great for Alex and the rest of the team to be around guys like that," said U-15 national coach Jim Barlow, the men's soccer coach at Princeton. "They got to see how they prepare and train. It was also great because they saw that half the U-20 team was on this U-15 team."

The Zarephath camp was the last before selection of the U.S. U-17 residency team, which trains and goes to school in Bradenton, Fla. That would put Bramall in a pool of 40 players who have an inside track at representing this country in the U-17 World Cup in 2009.

Barlow said Bramall has had a great year with the U-15 team and said the team will be announced later this summer. Bramall has many people pulling for him, including Adu.